Making a robot can be an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s the perfect combination of creativity, engineering and problem solving. However, if you’re just getting started in robotics, it can also be overwhelming. To make things easier for those who are just starting out, we’ve put together some tips and tricks to help makers bring robots to life! From the basics of assembling your robot to software implementation, these pointers will give you everything you need to get started on your robotic adventure!
Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could make a machine that would make 3D models of phenomena otherwise invisible to you? It’s fun to do, and it’s is an amazing creative process to create a machine that produces something that you can hold in your hand from the invisible – and it’s surprisingly easy. In this video I’ll show you how to use simple materials to create some unexpected results.
I’m excited to be kicking off our Gift Guide Singularity series with a project I’ve wanted to do for years — build a motorized, microcontrolled Strandbeest walker. I plan to give it to a close friend who’s also a robot enthusiast. I’ll run through how I’m planning to approach the build and will follow up with some posts on my progress.
Researchers at North Carolina State University have discovered a remarkable simple and flexible new way to make self-assembling objects, using just inkjet ink and “pre-stressed sheets of plastic” (that is Shrinky Dinks to those of you following along at home).
I built this Mousebot with my son, who had just turned 10. At first, I had to show him how to solder and helped him align the sides (not too easy), but by the end he was doing all the work himself and enjoying the “toughness” of the assembly. This kit is simple, but it […]
I bought my first Boe-Bot over 10 years ago. I’ve dropped it, stepped on it, even lost it behind the couch for three months. Nothing seems to faze this thing. The Boe consists of an aluminum frame, upon which two servomotors, a battery holder, and a BASIC Stamp 2 microcontroller board are mounted. Over the […]
I’ve been building OWI robot kits since the mid-1980s. Some have been good, a few not worth the box they came in. Every once in a while, OWI does a kit that’s great — their 3-in-1 All Terrain Robot (ATR) is one of these. This entertaining kit, suitable for kids 12 and up, lets you […]
In all seriousness, the robot skeleton of Society of Robot’s soul-reaping rug-crawling Carpet Monkey v5 is pretty sweet. The claws are CNC-cut aluminum, the body is HDPE. It has no autonomous behaviors, so the guts are quite simple: two servos, a battery, and a small R/C receiver
